A German-American Alliance: Simulated Real-Life Cross-Cultural Business Communication Exercise Involving German and American Classrooms

Abstract

While it is one thing to read about communication and work styles in other countries, experiencing it while also having to meet expected requirements of your own culture is something different altogether. We took two very similar classes, both comprised of working adults in Germany and in the US, and joined the students into a project with a purposely vague deliverable. We wanted them to move beyond a textbook understanding of working interculturally, to experience working with people from another country and to present points via technology with presenters who were delivering information simultaneously from both sides of the Atlantic.